


Yes, People Have Thought About Things

by TopHat



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 00:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18789301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TopHat/pseuds/TopHat





	Yes, People Have Thought About Things

Sophia burst into the meeting room and hurled a book at Ethan. “Fuck you!”

A momentary application of his power and the book dropped into Ethan’s free hand, leaving him with Leviathan in one hand and The Republic in the other, freshly caught. “So how’d you like Socrates?”

“I know what you’re trying to do,” she said, glaring at Ethan from her position at the threshold, arms crossed.

Ethan put down Hobbes and began thumbing through Plato. “If you read through the entire thing, you’d know we can’t actually know things. Real things, at least. It’s a pretty common conclusion.”

“He’s wrong,” Sophia said bluntly. “Strength trumps justice. Every time.”

“In that case, why does crime exist?” Ethan countered. “We have Eidolon. Why doesn’t he just wipe out every gang in North American and declare it a crime-free zone? Alternatively, if the criminals are stronger, how does the Protectorate persist? If strength really was the only thing that mattered, wouldn’t one side quickly seize victory and end the whole conflict?”

“Eidolon can’t be everywhere,” she snapped. “Some people are stronger, some are weaker, and they form packs. Powers mismatch, conflict goes on, and justice doesn’t exist.”

“Bold proposition,” Ethan said calmly, nodding once. “You’ve changed your thesis from ‘justice is in the interest of the stronger’ to ‘justice doesn’t exist’. Does that seem accurate?”

“No! Yes! Fuck!” Sophia punched the door frame, hard enough to drill a spike of pain into her knuckles. She glared at Ethan. “You know what I mean.”

“I don’t, actually,” he said simply, leaning forward and meeting Sophia’s eyes. “Do you mean that justice only exists as a construct of human society? That’s a fairly popular stance, if not a practical one. Do you mean that justice is determined by those in power? Again, popular, but the question of who wields power is a discussion that no one enjoys or agrees on.”

“How can you say that shit when the Empire exists?” Sophia shouted, pointing at the door. “Yeah, sure, a bunch of dead guys say shit. Today someone’s going to die because there are Nazis out there. Why are there Nazis? Because they’ve got a bunch of capes backing them up! How the *fuck* can you talk about justice when Hookwolf gets to escape from Birdcage transport twice?”

Ethan waited as Sophia caught her breath, her shoulders heaving and hands curled into fists. Once she had settled down, gone back to glaring at him silently, he opened the book to a heavily-underlined page and began to read.

“And therefore, being desirous of placing us under a rule like that of the best, we say that we ought to be a servant of the best, in whom the Divine rules; not as Thrasymachus supposed, to the injury of the servant, but because everyone had better be ruled by divine wisdom dwelling within them; or, if this be impossible, then by external authority, in order that we may be all, as far as possible, under the same government, friends and equals.” Ethan finished the passage with a sigh and closed the book. “Obey the law, because the alternatives are all worse and people are idiots.”

“That’s it?” Sophia asked incredulously.

Ethan rolled his eyes. “It’s translated from Ancient Greek, then translated again to plain speak for people who aren’t used to doing Olympic-level mental gymnastics. Cut me some slack.”

Sophia snorted. “Sure. Obey the law. Who sets the law? The government. Who controls the biggest guns? The government. Same result, different path.”

For a long moment, Ethan just stared at Sophia.

Then he laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Sophia snarled, stomping over towards him.

“No idea- how much-” Ethan looked up and guffawed again.

“Fine, fuck you,” Sophia growled, turning around.

“Wait,” Ethan wheezed, holding up a hand towards Sophia’s retreating form. “I’m sorry. I’ll explain.”

“You explained.”

“I used to break people out of Birdcage transports.”

Sophia stopped. Then she turned around, eyes narrowed. “What?”

Ethan sat up, chest settling into an even rhythm, even as his expression lost its humor. “A little boy has a dad. That dad robbed banks and hurt people for a living. The dad had powers, so instead of sending him to jail they send him to a place with no outside contact, no hope of parole, and no contact with stable individuals. They decide that because dad couldn’t be contained by normal means he didn’t deserve normal rights. The little boy didn’t have the ability to contest the charges, so instead he went out and started pulling stupid stunts in the name of his father. One day he gets powers, and now that he finally has the power to hit back...”

He trailed off, looking at Sophia meaningfully.

She sat down. It was on the other side of the table, as far away as she could get, but she sat down. “So you hit back.”

Ethan nodded. “Now, let’s run with Thrasymachus’s model. I have strength. I use it how I will. Let’s say I use it to set a cannibal serial killer free.” He spread his arms. “Am I just?”

“No,” Sophia answered grudgingly.

Ethan nodded, folding his hands.“What about the people who tried to keep Great White locked up? The PRT agents and the rookie cape who didn’t fully understand her powers. They failed. Are they just?”

“Yeah, but why didn’t they just kill Great White in the first place? Why give him the opportunity to get free?” Sophia clicked her tongue and looked away. “They had a chance to stop shit. They didn’t. Everyone who gets eaten by him from then on is on them.”

“Say they do kill him.” Ethan gestured towards Sophia, inclining his head. “Great White killed people, so he gets killed. Tit for tat. A few weeks later, a different villain takes a kid hostage. The PRT tells them to stand down, that things can be talked out. The villain thinks of Great White, they decide that they can’t trust the PRT, and try to make a break for it, with the kid in tow. During the chase, the villain throws the kid away, hoping to distract the pursuing Protectorate members. He breaks his neck.” Ethan dropped his arm. “Is that on the PRT?”

“It’s on the kid for getting into the shitty situation in the first place,” Sophia said.

The words hung in the air between them.

“I think everybody disagrees with you, Sophia,” Ethan replied carefully.

Sophia stood up. “That’s their problem, not mine. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”

Ethan shrugged. “It becomes your problem when your pursuit of the truth runs counter to someone else’s, and when that someone else is your employer and protector the consequences can be dire.”

She paused at the door, staring back at Ethan. “Why’d you give me that book?”

“To make you think,” Ethan said, tapping the side of his head. “Not just about what you believe, but also about who might be thinking with you. Ideas have a habit of coming up over and over again. History’s cyclical, not linear.”

Sophia rolled her eyes. “Save it for the lecture hall.”

For a while, the two of them sat in silence.

“Socrates wasn’t the end of the discussion,” Ethan said, picking up the other book. “Most of my library is focused on the problem of evil, but I’ve got the core texts for Hobbes too. He claimed that the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short without political entities. We accept restrictions on our personal freedoms for the sake of things like honest trade and protection from violence. His text Leviathan arguably forms the core of modern politics, and it has a thing or two to say about human nature as well.”

He flicked the volume, an unnatural force propelling it across the table. Sophia slapped her hand down onto it before it could fall off the table.

“That’s part one,” he added. “The bit that focuses on human nature. Try it if you want, and if you want to follow down his chain of logic I can bring the other four. They’re a lot more boring though.”

Sophia scoffed, standing up and heading for the door. “Like the last one wasn’t. Nerd.”

With that final insult, she left, set in her purpose, mind unchanged.

She took the book, though.


End file.
